Thursday, March 8, 2012

Zuppa di Orzo/Mushroom Barley Soup

"It's mostly on flat terrain, not too much climbing" said the woman behind the desk when I asked her about the guided hike sponsored by the hotel. On that advice, I took a pass on skiing my last day in the Val Gardena and instead joined a group of eight other people for a walk in the mountains.

After skiing all week on snow that had become slushier and slushier due to unseasonably warm weather, "How hard could this be?" I thought. Well, as it turns out, a lot harder than I ever imagined. We started out on flat terrain alright, as we headed away from the village.

The trail was on even ground, albeit a little icy and/or slushy in places.

There were signs to some castle ruins at one point, but why was another sign suggesting children under 14 be accompanied by adults?

I was soon to find out, as the trail became more difficult - and entirely uphill -- nearly three hours of uphill - in snow and slush and ice and me without hiking boots. So what was that story the lady at the hotel desk told me about flat terrain? And who were all these people ahead of me who seemed to be having no trouble negotiating the terrain? marathoners? (well, yes as it turned out, one of them was.)

I could say though the scenery was breathtaking, but truly I had little breath left to give, since I was huffing and puffing from the climb.

We passed a via crucis (signs of the cross) along the trail. It seemed like a prayer was in order.

(Please God, get me down from this mountain in one piece - or at least to the lunch place.)

Thankfully, he answered my prayers and I straggled into the mountain-side baita last in my group. But at least I made it intact. Partly due to Giovanni, a generous man from Rome (and a real marathoner who has run in races all over the world). At one point in the descent, Giovanni used his boots to create a staircase in the snow for me, allowing me to place my feet where he had left his footprints.

Lunch never tasted so good, and the view wasn't bad either.

Giovanni's wife, Maria, ordered the barley soup, made with bits of speck.

But a lot of people ordered the homemade mezzelune (half moons), stuffed with spinach and slathered butter and parmesan cheese. They were delicious.

After bolstering our bellies and our confidence, we started back down. If I thought the uphill climb was a challenge, well, the downhill trip was ever more difficult, since the opportunity to slip was even greater. The previous days of skiing had been a piece of cake compared to this one-day hike.

Again, I held up the rear the whole way down (you never know when a wild boar might attack the group -- someone's got to be on the alert.)

We took a different trail down and the village was in sight sooner than I expected.

I'm not sure I'd tackle a similar trek again without hiking boots (and more training), but I did meet many nice people that day.

I arrived back at the hotel just as the late afternoon "snack" was set out.

But all I wanted to do was soak in the warmth and bubbles of the indoor-outdoor pool, gaze at the onion dome in one direction...

...and at the formidable mountains I had just conquered in the other direction. It's safe to say I won't be climbing Mt. Everest any time soon.

Back in the states, I put on a pot of barley soup, but instead of the speck, I made mine with mushrooms - both dried porcini mushrooms and fresh ones from the supermarket. By the way, in Italian, orzo means barley, not those small rice-shaped pastas labeled orzo in the U.S.

4 cups chicken broth (you can make this entirely vegetarian if you want by using vegetable broth)

1/2 cup barley

1 oz. dried porcini mushrooms

1 1/2 cups water

12 oz. white "button" mushrooms, sliced

2 T. olive oil

3 cloves garlic

1 large onion, minced finely

2 stalks celery, chopped finely

1 carrot, cut into small bits

1 bay leaf

small bit of finely chopped rosemary

salt

pepper

1/4 cup sherry

heavy cream (optional)

sour cream (optional)

Bring 1 1/2 cups of the chicken broth to a boil and add the barley. Let it simmer for about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes, while you prepare the rest of the soup. Soak the porcini mushrooms in the water for about 20 minutes or until the mushrooms have softened. Don't throw away the liquid, but strain it through a filter and reserve.

In a large pot, saute the onions in the oil until soft, then add the garlic, minced celery and carrot bits. Add the fresh mushrooms and continue sauteing until the mushrooms have developed some color and are cooked. Add the porcini mushrooms and their reserved liquid. At this point, if the barley has softened, add it and the liquid it was cooking in into the pot. Add the remaining chicken broth. Add the sherry and seasonings, including the bay leaf and cook for another half hour, until thickened. If necessary, add more water or stock if it gets too thick.

If you want to make it a creamy soup, add heavy cream to your liking, and serve with a dollop of sour cream.

16 comments:

I am pretty sure the "orzo" pasta you describe is similarly mis-named "risoni" in Italy, which are still not made of rice any more than they are made of barley, but are similar in shape and slightly larger than a grain of rice. There are also gnocchi and gnochetti pasta types which are not round and made of potatoes, but rather little pocket pasta.

You must be in fantastic shape to take on a hike like that Linda. The views are spectacular though and so I imagine worth the effort. I bought barley last week with the plan to make mushroom barley soup which used to be my Dad's favorite. I will have to give your recipe a try.

Oh my goodness, Linda! The climb must have been strenuous, but just look at the fantastic photos you were able to take along the way! They must have been so worth the pain--and believe me I know I would not have been able to make this climb as I huff and puff in when I am in Colorado's altitude.

My nephew who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro a few years ago will be climbing Mt, Rainier this upcoming autumn. I an in awe of mountain climbers!

No hiking boots? You're amazing! Uphill for 3 hours? You are in shape girl, the skys the limit! It had to be worth it sitting at that table with the beautiful view, you'd have to pry me away and then send for a helicopter!

I'm so glad I waited until I was home and could savor this post rather than rush through it. Did not know "orzo" was barley in Italian. Do know the soup would warm the cockles of my heart. They should be grateful to you for looking out for wild boars... and bless you for your sense of adventure!

I bet you were more than ready for a warming bowl of soup after an adventure like that. Your pictures are wonderful, Linda. Thanks for taking us along with you. That's as close to a strenuous hike as I'm going to get!

I always seem to pick hiking trails that are listed as "moderate difficulty" in travel books, and then they are anything but. Your lunch and the afternoon snack both look like great rewards for the hike though! And, I love barley soup.

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Making Pasta With A Torchio

The Torchio

The device you see in the slides above is a "torchio," a hollow brass tube attached to a bench or a wall. Different metal "dies" can be inserted in the torchio for different shapes of pasta. The torchio belonged to my mother's family in Italy. After decades of collecting dust in my basement, the torchio was recently resurrected when my father offered to make a bench for it. The torchio is screwed to the bench, semolina pasta dough is fed into the tube, the crank is turned, (in this case by my son Michael) and with a lot of elbow grease, pasta is extruded through the die. What comes out below is a tubular pasta - anything from thin spaghetti to bucatini, similar to a hollow straw.

About Me

In my last life, I was a journalist in NYC, but left the rat race to live in Italy for a year. I created this blog upon my return to combine my interests of writing and photography with my love of food and travel. My mother was from the region of Emilia-Romagna, my father's family was from Calabria and my late husband's family is Abruzzese. Is it any wonder then, that Italian art, music, food and the country's beautiful landscape are among my passions? I hope you will try some of the recipes and post comments. Buon Appetito. Linda